Teen commits hate crime against Peninsula victim while praying: PD

(KRON) — A teenager was arrested for committing a hate crime against a victim while he was praying in San Bruno Saturday afternoon, San Bruno police said.

Around 2:40 p.m., San Bruno police responded to a report that a victim had been threatened with a knife in the parking lot of a shopping center on El Camino Real. The victim told police he was praying outside his car when the suspect approached her and threatened her with a knife.

Police said the suspect then threatened to kill the victim and made “derogatory statements about his alleged ethnicity.” The victim then identified himself to SBPD as “Middle Eastern/Afghan,” police said.

Police said the suspect then fled in a car and the victim was not physically injured.

Shortly after fleeing, police found the suspect in his car. The suspect was identified as a 17-year-old who is also believed to be of Middle Eastern descent, the SBPD said.

Police said the teen was arrested on “charges related to committing a hate crime, brandishing a deadly weapon and making criminal threats” before being booked into the juvenile detention center Hillcrest in San Mateo County.

Anyone with information about this hate crime is asked to contact SBPD at (650) 616-7100. Police said information could be left anonymously.